Based on the acclaimed novel by Roald Dahl, “Willy Wonka and the
Chocolate Factory” is now a standard for kids’ movies, partly for the
imagery and simple, good-hearted story with values, and partly because
of the endearing way Gene Wilder portrayed the title character. (Dahl
wrote the script.) The set-up is great for kids. The mysterious Willy
Wonka, master candy-maker, has been gone from the public eye for years.
Before he closed his factory and stopped allowing the public in, people
used to stop by to see how he made all his wonderful candies. Except
that there was a very evil man named Mr. Slugworth (Gunter Meisner) who
tried to steal Willy’s recipes. As a result, Willy Wonka got to the
point that he didn’t trust anyone.

He withdrew from the public eye, but his company continued to produce
wonderful products. Now, , Willy Wonka is once again going to open the
doors to his marvelous factory. But only to five very lucky people.
Introducing his new chocolate bar, Willy has hidden five golden tickets
that will enable the possessor to take a tour of his factory and get a
lifetime supply of chocolate.

The story has a solid beginning that hooks younger viewers as well as
their parents. Charlie Bucket (Peter Ostrum) is a small boy whose life
is hard, instantly winning over the audience that seems to crave boys
that are orphan, or partially orphaned as Charlie is. While the other
kids escape school and dash immediately to the candy store, where
they’re entertained by a shopkeeper who seems content to just give
candy away and break into song, Charlie has to peer through the
windows. He obviously doesn’t have the money it takes to purchase even
one sucker.

Charlie goes to pick up the papers that he delivers every day, as well
as his pay. At the end of his day, he goes home to his mother (Diana
Sowie), grandparents and uncle. Charlie is appalled at the cabbage
water they’re eating again, and shows off the loaf of bread he bought.
All of them are excited.

Charlie’s father is dead, and his grandparents and uncle are bedridden,
as they have been for the last twenty years. No explanation is given
for them being bedridden, but it’s obvious that the four old people are
a drain on the family’s budget. Charlie has saved a bit of his money
and gives it to Grandpa Joe (Jack Albertson) for his tobacco. (Two
immediate faux pas for the present generation of kids, with all the
information they have, would be the lack of explanation for why
everyone is bedridden, and then the fact that Charlie would help his
grandfather support his smoking habit, which everyone knows harms a
person’s health. But in 1971, those questions would never have come up
in young viewers’ minds.)

Once news of the five golden tickets in Wonka bars gets out, people
everywhere begin buying them up. Charlie wants desperately to do so,
too, but he doesn’t have enough money to buy one Wonka bar, let alone
enough of them to possibly have any hope of getting one of those
tickets.

Slowly, around the world, the golden tickets are gradually revealed.
Augustus Gloop (Michael Bollner) finds the first one, quickly followed
by Violet Beauregarde (Denise Nickerson), Veruca Salt (Julie Dawn
Cole), and Mike Teevee (Paris Themmen). There’s even a scare about the
fifth ticket being found before it’s revealed that the claimant
counterfeited one.

The amazing thing is that all this goes by quickly, while Charlie’s
character is built up as well as that of Grandpa Joe. The love between
the two of them is obvious, but kids today might wonder why Charlie
didn’t take his mother. After all, she was working to keep food on the
table for all of them.

Charlie does pick Grandpa Joe, though, and they’re off to see Willy
Wonka’s chocolate factory. Willy Wonka limps onto center stage, leaning
heavily on a cane, then does an unexpected roll and springs to his
feet, delighting the audience. Gene Wilder’s love for this role,
demonstrating the zany behavior that became his stock in trade in later
comedic efforts, is apparent here. So are the purple suit and top hat,
items that Tim Burton and Johnny Depp kept for their version of the
movie. By the time Willy puts in an appearance, the movie is nearly
halfway over.

Each of the other four children show their true natures and are carted
off to be dealt with. The scenes between Grandpa Joe and Charlie are
classic, good fun that warms the hearts of the audience.

Tim Burton and Johnny Depp’s take on the character is much darker.
Although the story that they told is virtually unchanged, Burton and
Depp added a lot of background characterization that put a whole new
slant on Willy Wonka that some people didn’t care for. Still, the story
of the fabulous and intelligent candy-making recluse and the young boy
who won him over is an excellent story that’s simple and direct.

Although the movie and the values are somewhat dated, it’s the audio
and video presentation that markedly show the difference time has on
film. The video portion isn’t too bad, but the colors seem off and the
images are a tad bit too soft. The movie still remains a colorful
picture, but it lacks when compared to the sharpness and clarity of
other HD DVD movies.

The audio portion fares even worse. Even though it has great music,
“Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” suffers from being released on
HD DVD in only a step or two above stereo. The sound remains pretty
flat and insipid throughout the film.

The special features are almost non-existent, but after 35 years it
would be hard rounding up many people who could actually remember being
in the movie.

“Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” is still a good, solid kids’
film. It’s worth watching on a family night, or as a comparison to how
Johnny Depp and Tim Burton did their version, which retained the title
of Roald Dahl’s book, “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.” However, if
you already have Wilder’s movie on DVD, there’s no reason to pick up
the HD DVD version unless you just want to keep all your movies in the
same format.